When fall comes to Missouri

Dear family, this is the kind of day that you wish that you were here and makes me want to be here always. The blast of summer is over and a ultra mellow fall has settled over the farm with a gentle sigh. Just walked in with Zion, who is singing a song about French children dancing on a bridge. The chicken in the crock pot isn't quite done but it smells great. The house is warm, and not even drafty!.  Have a chunk of cookie dough ( the new House Special) and a glass of milk to tide you over till the rice, chicken and cheese is done..   It is one of those crisp fall days that helps us to believe that there is a God in heaven and that the world should keep on going. Bill is putting up rock around Cotita's front door with Isaac helping him.  There were some miss estimations and so Zion and I ran to Licking and then to Salem to rectify things. (instead of finishing the painting upstairs)  Then we saw alot of walnuts in the gravel road and had an impromptu gathering session. We got 30 'walmart' bags full, stuffed them into the back of the mazda around the 25 lbs of  shredded cheese that I got at Alliant for $1.20/lb, the squeezo that Jill had borrowed, the box of picture frames that we found at the Licking thrift store for a quarter apiece and the microwave turntables,(sorry Tiz, no bags of leaves) and other assorted large round fairly flat things that I got to put  under the house plants that I brought in two nights ago because it was gonna FREEZE. It did. But the green house is cozy. The tomato plants are loaded and keeping us over-tomatoed and the basil is keeping me very happily pesto-ed. And the cold hasn't touched them yet..The kittens that had disappeared while we were camping last weekend have mostly returned, and the geese on William's pond fly round every so often, honking, just to make me happy. It works. aaaaahhhhh.  Tomorrow I need to can the last of the apples.. Stop by.   Mom